(UNDATED) I just made my first travel plans dictated by rising fuel costs. I had set aside $1,000 to fly three people from New York to Indianapolis over Memorial Day weekend for the Indy 500. Thanks to dwindling competition and surging costs for jet fuel, the airfare tab was going to be nearly twice that. I thought about flying out of Philadelphia, or driving 700 miles, but financially, neither option worked. I finally found a reasonable itinerary-fly to Kentucky, drive two hours-but even then, I am spending my vacation budget mainly on travel. What transportation takes, something else has to give. I found this milestone disconcerting. Ready and cheap mobility has been a fixture of American life, but now I realize that the new freedom is freedom from the automobile, not freedom conferred by the automobile.
(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)